Running gear for high-speed suspension cars



March Il, 1930.

RUNNING GEAR FOR HIGH SPEED SUSPENSION GARS Sedia (+C.-

c. sTEDEFELD 1,750,064

Filed Oct. 25, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

//7 a/e/y for Ill u. .mi

March ll, 1930. c. sTEDEr-'ELD RUNNING GEAR FOR HIGH SPEED SUSPENSIONGARS Filed Oct. 25, 1926 Patented Mar. `11, 1930 UNITEDSTA CURTSTEDEFELD, or HEIDELBERG, GERMANY RUNNING enfin non HIGH-SPEEDSUSPENSION clinsl rA.sppiicatiqn sled october e5, 192e, serial No.144,071', and 'in ce1-many March 1o, 192e.

l Inmy former application No. 4,573, now Patent No. 1,602,464,'.grantedOctober 12, 1926, arunning wheel `mounting for high c speed suspension.railways is described, in `5, which the individual running wheels areborne atthe ends of forked turning arms and oscillate therewith. Ifthecar is to be driven not by an air'propeller, but through the runningwheels, then onA the one hand the mfree play of theturning armsmust notbe hindered during up anddown oscillation of the car body on thesprings, and on the other hand the unsprung weightof the running i gearmust not be appreciably increased as this would nullify anessential`purpose of the turning arm construction. i

In consequence, wheel hub `electric motors or iiange Imotors, mounted'on the end of the running wheel axle, cannot be used,since they 2o wouldconsiderably increase theweight of the running gear. The bearer4 armsupported motors usedin street railways cannot be used either, since apart of their weight would act as an lincrease of the unsprung weightand in addition would lead to a very complicated construction, since inaddition to the forked arm the motor. arms would have to be linked `tothe running Wheel axle. A satisfactory solution for high speeds, that isfor large "motors, is only aorded by a fixed mounting r of the` motor onthe sprung runningframe or car body. Such arrangements `are known i inelectric railway locomotives in the form of 4chassis motorconstructions, either a connect- `ing and coupling rod gear, or asingle' shaft yieldable in alldirections, (e. g. spring couplings of theA. E. G. high speedrailway and vWestinghouse Company, or the doubledriv-` ing rod coupling ofGanz 85Go. Buchli, MaschinenfabrikOerliken, orthe Cardan shaft through hollow wheelraxles of the Tschanz iconstruction etc), for power transmission to the wheels withouthindranceto the spring action. i

In consideration of the passengers the springing must be much moreflexible, that is the spring movement must be much greater, in suspendeddriving vehiclesthan in standing railway locomotives. In theabove driv-50` ing methods this condition leads to `inconvenient constructionalforms and to .incon` veniently large dimensions, from which rewhichwhile of the most simple character and only increasing very slightly theunsprung weight, ensures a very high degree ofreliability and safety.According to the invention the drive isefected by a toothed Wheel of aslight weight as possible, secured on the axle to be driven withwhichiwheel meshes a drive transmitting wheel mounted :coaxially withthe axis of oscillation of the turning arm.

Several embodiments of such a drive are shown `in the which Fig. 1 is afragmentary side elevation, with parts shown in section, of one trackwheel and its driving and supporting members,

Fig. 2 is a verticalsection taken through the pivotal axis of the hangerarm in Fig. 1, Y Fig. 3 is a' fragmentary planview of Fig. 1, with partsshownin horizontal section,

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of two forms of resilient drive,

Fig. 5 is a sectional view, on line B-B of Fig. `6, of another form ofresilient drive FigG is a vertical central section through the drivewheel shown in Fig; 5," 3

Fig. 6a is a vertical central `section through a drive wheel whereinalternate fplates are shown as secured to the hub-and the rim,

i Figs. 7a, *Ware central sections illustrating two otherA formsf` ofresilient drive, of the small gear of Fig; 4, l

` Figs. 1,8 and 9 are fragmentary` side and horizontal section views,respectively, of another form ofmwheelsupport and resilient drive, and Ai Y Figs." 10 and 11 are similar side-'elevation and horizontalsectionviews of another 1nodi icationof theresilient drive. "i

The drive illustrated in Figures V1 to 3 shows a toothed wheel b securedon thev runaccompanying drawings, in

ning axle a, with which meshes a toothed Y wheel c,the axis of which iscollinear with that d of the turning arm e. This method of drive permitsthe motor to be completely s fixed on the sprung part of the car, eitherabout the axis d will be transmitted back to the wheel c and to thetransmission gear and motor parts coupled thereto.

lvntageous oscillations can almost entirely be i zu eiiminated bytheinterposition of a flexible These disadspring connection between thewheel Z) and its hub h, or between the wheel cand its hub i.

Such spring connections in the form of lleaf springs k'or coil spring Zare illustrated Ain relation to the teeth on the meshing wheel,

tiplate 1 in Figure 4.

This springing arrangement known in itself, is also usable in essencefor the present purpose. The resilience of the spring connectionnecessary here in view of the large angle of movement on both sides ofthe turning arm e, is, however, comparatively large (see Figure 1).Theuse of usual spring systems for such a resilience leads to excessivedimensions `and inconvenient forms of construction. These are avoided bthe arrangements shown in Figures 5 to y tFor comparativel small wheelsaccording to Figures and 6, t e spiral bending springs 1m1 and maprovide the necessary large resil ience, `while they are mountedpair-wise one within the other to obtain rotational and torque balance.VThe are secured at their inner ends for examp e by bolts n to the hub o,at their outer ends b bolts p to the toothed i rim q. The latter canguided on the hub 0 by cover plates r, either cylindrically, orspherically, to obtain automatic adjustment in known manner. This springsystem can be damped, without the addition of special moving parts, ifthe spiral springs are not i originally made flat, but are wound withthe individual turns laterally displaced, so that -when mounted betweenthe flat cover platesvl they are to a certain extent preliminarily tor.-sionally loaded and produce a perceptible lateral frictional action.Preferably wear receiving friction plates@ are arranged between thesprings m1, m2 and the cover plates r. The damping effect can bemultiplied by mounting reverse friction plates a on one another,alternately coupled with the hub n and the rim in the manner of theknown mulutches.

With toothed wheels with a large breadth in relation to diameter, as isshown by the wheel c in Figures l to 4 a high utilization oi the springweightY and space is achieved both in springing and in damping, whenring springs t according to Figure 7 are used in the embodiment ofFigure 4, in the same way as such have been lately used for example inrailway buffers and couplings. In view of the practically pure tensionor compression stresses, theseA have a greater resilience per unitvolume than anyother springing sys tem; in addition they'can beconstructed with a high degree of self damping, which can be regulatedover a large range 'according to need, particularly when they arecombined with cylindrical coil springs (Figure 7).

In the half section Figure 7a for example an external coil spring uiscombined with an internal circular spring of closed rings t of high selfdamping against one another. Naturally the ring spring t could beexternal and the coill spring u internal. Y

The half section Figure 7b shows another example in which two externalspringsare arranged in series; a divided coil spring v and a ring springw1. In the latter only the outer rings w1, are closed, the inner ringswg being cut through so that they bear on the guide sleeve a: andproduce damping friction. The mounting of the ring spring w1 in thecentre of the whole system gives it a particularly large friction spaceon the guide sleeve .When space or similar conditions require, naturallythe toothed wheels b and o on the running and turning arm axles can beunsprung and the spring connection is then interposedvin the followingtransmission members.

The embodiments of Figures 8 to 11 are notably efficient. In Figures 8and 9 the toothed wheels b and c on the running axle a and the turningarm axis d-d are on one side of the running gear, the remainingtransmission members, e. g. the bevel wheel y on the other side. Theyare connected by a shaft a passing through the hollow turning armspindle z'. The shaft a can, in known manner, be made of high qualitymaterial and so dimensioned that its torsional elasticity is suflicientto take up the angular motion of the turning arm e.

In the form shown in Figures 10 and ll, the wheels'b and c as well asthe next transmission wheels b all lie on the sa-me side of the runninggear. The spring connection c here is of'a usual or above described kindand is interposed between the wheels b and c.

If, as is shown in my former application, two running wheels withturning arms are mounted to form a single running gear, both runningwheels can be driven individually or in common, in one of the abovedescribed ways. In this case the two driving gears can l. In a wheeledvehicle, a driving mecha` nism of the type including a frame, a hangerarm, a driving wheel Journaled on said hanga er arm, a drive for saidwheel including a gear rigidly secured to said wheel,fmeans pivotallymounting said hanger arm' on said frame, a driven gear 1n mesh with saidfirst gear and having an axis coinciding with the `pivotal axis of saidhanger arm, the pivotal mounting of said hanger arm restraining allmovement thereof except in a vertical plane, whereby the teeth of saidgears remain fully in mesh upon vertical movement Aof said hanger arm,characterized by the fact that means is provided for resiliently drivingsaid gears, whereby vertical movement of said Wheel with reference tosaid frame is not transmitted through said gears to the prime mover.

`2. The invention as set forth in claim l, wherein the said meanscomprises spring means connecting the rim of one gear to the hubthereof.

3. In a wheeled vehicle, a driving mechanism of the type including aframe, a hanger` arm pivotally mounted on said frame, a running wheeljournalled on said hanger arm, and resilient means for transmitting apart t ofthe vehicle l-oad to said running wheel, and

a drive for said wheel comprising a gear rigidly secured to said wheelandin mesh with a driven gear having an axis coinciding with the pivotalaxis of said hanger arm charac terized by the fact that means isprovided for resiliently driving said gears, whereby vertical movementof said wheel with reference to saidframe is not transmitted throughsaid gears to the prime mover wherein the said means comprises a springconnecting the rim `of each of said gears to its respective hub.

4f. In a wheeled vehicle, a driving mechanism of the type including aframe, a hanger arm pivotally mounted on said frame, a running wheeljournalled on said hanger arm,

and resilient means for transmitting a part of the vehicle load to saidrunning wheel, and a drive for said wheel comprising a gear rigidlysecured to said wheel and in mesh with a driven gear having an axiscoinciding with the pivotal axis of said hanger arm characterized by thefact that means is provided for resiliently driving said gears, wherebyverf' tical movement of said wheel with reference spring connecting therim of one wheel to its hub.

6. In a wheeled vehicle, a driving mechanism of the type including aframe, a hanger arm pivotally mounted on said frame, a run` ning wheeljournalled onY said hanger arm, andresilient means for transmittingapart of the vehicle load to said running wheel, and a drive for saidwheel comprising a gear rigidly secured to said wheel and in mesh with adriven gear having an axis coinciding with the pivotal axis of saidhanger arm characterized by the fact that means is provided forresiliently driving said gears, whereby vertical movement of said'wheelwith reference to said frame is not transmitted through said gears tothe prime mover, wherein said means comprises two spiral springsconnecting the rim of one gear to its hub, and plates pressing againstthe lateral edges of said springs to damp the movement thereof.

7. The invention as set forth in claim 1, wherein saidV means comprisestwo spiral springs connecting the rim of one of said gears to its hub,the said springs being normally of conical form,v a plurality of platesat each side of said springs and pressed againstthe same to retain thesame in the form of cylin' drical spirals, alternate plates beingsecured to? the rim and the hub of said gear, respec-

